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Combustion Chamber, Rocket, Liquid Fuel, Robert H. Goddard, 1929

This liquid-propellant rocket motor of Dr. Robert H. Goddard was flown on his rocket launch of 17 July 1929. The propellants were liquid oxygen and gasoline. It was the first liquid-propellant rocket to carry scientific instruments (an aneroid barometer and thermometer). The rocket flew to 28 m (90 feet) but crashed, the noise and resulting grass fire creating a public sensation. The publicity led to Goddard's rocket work coming to the attention of aviator Charles Lindbergh. Thanks to his intervention, Goddard would be supported in the 1930s by the Daniel Guggenheim Fund for the Promotion of Aeronautics.

The Daniel and Florence Guggenheim Fund gave this motor to the Smithsonian.

This liquid-propellant rocket motor of Dr. Robert H. Goddard was flown on his rocket launch of 17 July 1929. The propellants were liquid oxygen and gasoline. It was the first liquid-propellant rocket to carry scientific instruments (an aneroid barometer and thermometer). The rocket flew to 28 m (90 feet) but crashed, the noise and resulting grass fire creating a public sensation. The publicity led to Goddard's rocket work coming to the attention of aviator Charles Lindbergh. Thanks to his intervention, Goddard would be supported in the 1930s by the Daniel Guggenheim Fund for the Promotion of Aeronautics.

The Daniel and Florence Guggenheim Fund gave this motor to the Smithsonian.